Best Thai Restaurant (2012)

When Utumporn Killoran, who runs the Thai Street Food cart on the 16th Street Mall, opened a same-name brick-and-mortar last year in Aurora, it quickly earned a spot on everyone's you-must-go-here list. From her tiny exhibition kitchen, which she runs with her husband and son, Killoran turns out deeply flavored curries and soups, all of which boast bold spices. There's nothing on her tidy menu that we don't love, but we're particular fans of her noodle jelly salad, which doesn't contain jelly at all. Instead, a slippery mound of glossy glass noodles is tangled with ground pork, shrimp, pungent herbs and lashings of fiery red chiles, the heat of which makes your stomach quake like a coin-operated waterbed. The dish is at once salty and sweet, tart and spicy — and incredible. But you can only get it on Saturdays, which is the only day that the Thai Street Food restaurant is open.